Innovative Process for Production of Neodymium Metal and Neodymium-Iron Master Alloy

Neodymium is an essential element for the powerful permanent magnets used wind turbines, electric vehicles, and other applications. However, neodymium is classified by the Department of Energy as critical due to insufficient and insecure supply, including a virtual monopoly by a few companies in China. Even with the current expansion of rare earth mining in the US, Canada, and Australia, there is a gap in the supply chain where the ores and concentrates from these mines are converted into metals and alloys. Furthermore, incumbent technologies for producing metal from rare earth ores are inefficient, environmentally unfriendly, and unsustainable. The is molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), which will produce neodymium metal and alloys from concentrates efficiently and cleanly. This process involves fewer unit operations than incumbent processes, avoiding conversion of the feed into chlorides and fluorides. By completely eliminating fluorine and chlorine from the process, MOE avoids producing polyfluorinated carbons (PFCs), dioxins, furans, and hydrofluoric acid, and thus also avoids the necessity of cleaning up these emissions. In addition to the advantages in safety and environmental protection, eliminating these steps saves energy, capital, and operating expense. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Include safe, secure access to the materials needed for expanding the modern economy and increasing the deployment of renewable energy, at a lower cost in both economic and environmental terms. Diversity in the supply base may also help to defuse recent geopolitical tension over this critical material.